The market is already over saturated with these types and it depresses the opportunities for all.

I have lived in Georgia all my life.In Atlanta we have the actual city and then we have the (MSA) Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses over 20 counties.The city part of Atlanta has some nice areas but also some very depressed areas.

An economic depression.

I tried my hand at wholesaling but Wasn’t successful at all which kind of made me really down and depress.

There are higher caps in Port Alberni as it has been depressed for some time so the prices there are lower.

The Rust Belt has some cheap markets too, but it's very economically depressed so I would probably shy away from them a bit. 

I'd have to invest that $500k in an index fund and take margin on that which, assuming I am getting 1.5% of my account value, means I'd have access to a total of $750,000.I'd go find an extremely depressed market somewhere and buy up as much as possible and hope I'm right.

People get divorced; fall off the wagon; have unforeseen major medical problems; become victims of accidents or crimes; lose close family or friends and fall into depression, etc. 

The downside tends to be that a depressed economy has lead to many buildings that have deteriorated, and renters that don't expect much (which shows in how some of them treat the properties).

I had to stop looking, I was pretty depressed.